Cons

Bottom Line

The Vivint Sky smart home system offers 24/7 security monitoring and remote control of your door locks, cameras, heating system, and more.
It requires a monthly subscription, but features one of the best video doorbell solutions around.

19 May 2017John R. Delaney

Editors' Note: This review has been updated to reflect pricing and plan changes in the Vivint Sky System, now Vivint Smart Home, since we reviewed it in July 2015. We've raised its score from 4 to 4.5 stars and it now receives our Editors' Choice endorsement.

Do-it-yourself smart home security systems like the SkylinkNet SK-200 and the iSmartAlarm Premium are great for frugal homeowners who want to save money by monitoring their homes themselves, but these systems leave it up to you to take action when an alarm is triggered. They don't check in to see if everything is OK when your smoke alarm goes off or when your front door alarm is tripped, and they don't call the local authorities. For that kind of response, you need a subscription-based service like the one that comes with the Vivint Smart Home security system. With Vivint you get around-the-clock home monitoring with an incredibly swift response when an alarm goes off, as well as a variety of optional home automation services, all of which can be controlled from a smartphone, a PC, and a 7-inch touch-screen control panel.

Vivint Smart Home systems aren't cheap, but once you decide on a plan you don't have to lift a finger; Vivint technicians come to your house, install everything, and give you a comprehensive tour of how it all works. That all adds up to our Editors' Choice for home security systems.

Plans

As with SimpliSafe, when you order a Vivint system you purchase whatever hardware you need and select a monthly plan. The minmum requirement is a $549 base system consisting of a SkyControl touch-screen panel, two door/window sensors, and a motion detector, but you can add more sensors as needed.

If you purchase the hardware up-front you can choose one of two monthly service plans, or you can monitor the system yourself but will forgo use of the mobile app and 24/7 tech support. You can take advantage of Vivint's FlexPay financing to pay for the hardware over time, but must subscribe to one of the service plans over the course of the loan agreement.

There are two service plans. The Smart Protect plan is $39.99 per month and gives you 24/7 professional monitoring and full use of the mobile app, including alert notifications. If you add things like door locks, doorbell cams, and thermostats, you'll need the $49.99 per month Smart Home plan, which lets you control home automation devices using the app and Amazon's Alexa voice commands. Again, a service plan is not mandatory, but without one you have to monitor your home yourself and you don't get remote access to the system.

Components

Additional component prices are pretty much in line with the competition. Door/window sensors go for $39.99 each, which is what Protect America charges; LiveWatch charges $29 and Frontpoint charges $32.99. A Vivint glass-break detector costs $70 while FrontPoint charges $74.99, Protect America charges $79.99, and LiveWatch charges $79. Panic buttons go for $39.99 each, which is identical to Protect America and FrontPoint pricing, and a bit cheaper than Livewatch ($47.24).

New to the Vivint line is the Ping Camera ($199.99), which is unique in that it can initiate two-way communication using a call button that sends a notification to users that are connected to the system. That feature worked well in testing, and the camera also delivers excellent day and night video, supports event-triggered recording, and interacts with other smart home devices.

The Element Thermostat ($149.99) is also new, and seamlessly integrates with the system to keep temperatures comfortable. Vivint Smart Drive replaces the Space Monkey option and provides 30 days of continuous video storage for up to four cameras.

The SkyControl panel is the Vivint Smart Home's nerve center. It has a 7-inch full color touch-screen display that makes it easy to lock and unlock doors, view live and recorded video, adjust heating and cooling temperatures, and activate emergency services including Panic and Burglary alarms that go straight to the local police department. The panel also lets you assign and edit user codes, adjust alarm volumes, tweak camera settings, arm or disarm the system, and run diagnostics. However, you can't change the sound of the alarms, which can be problematic. More on that later.

The various components communicate with the panel using several types of wireless technologies including Wi-Fi (cameras), RF (sensors and smoke alarm), and Z-Wave (door locks). My favorite is the Vivint's Doorbell Camera, which offers the best performance and aesthetics I've seen from a doorbell cam to date.

Whereas the Ring and SkyBell devices are somewhat bulky and are obviously housing a camera, Vivint's Doorbell Camera actually looks like a regular doorbell, and uses your existing wiring. It measures 4.5 by 1.5 by 1.0 inches (HWD) and has a silver housing and a glossy black face. At the top of the doorbell is a 1,280-by-800-pixel 720p HD camera, with a 180-degree field of view and a 10-foot night vision range. Below that is a tiny microphone port, and there's a small but powerful down-firing speaker at the base for two-way communication with the SkyControl panel or a mobile device.

The camera records video when the button is pressed, and contains a motion sensor that automatically records video when someone enters its detection zone. It captures 30 second clips and uses continuous buffering with a 5-8 second pre-event trigger so you can see what happened just prior to the event. For example, you can see someone walking up to your door before they actually press the doorbell. You can share video clips, which are stored in the cloud, via text message, email, or by downloading them to your mobile device, and you can manually delete them from the cloud. Otherwise they remain there for 45 days and are removed on a first-in first-out basis.

The interior camera measures 3.1 by 3.1 by 1.7 inches (HWD) and also has a 1,280-by-800 resolution. It uses six infrared (IR) LEDs to deliver black-and-white night video up to around 20 feet and has a 94-degree field of view. It sits on a round stand and has an Ethernet port on the back and a WPS button on the left.

The outdoor camera is a bullet-style model that measures 4 inches long by 2.5 inches wide. It too has a 1,280-by-800 resolution, but its 73-degree field of view is a bit narrower than the interior camera. That said, it has a longer (40 foot) night vision range thanks to its 10 IR LEDs.

App and Performance

You can control the Vivint system remotely using the free Android and iOS apps, and from a PC using the web console. With the mobile app, the home screen displays how many doors and windows are currently open and which doors are unlocked. It also contains a big button for arming and disarming the system and buttons for locking and unlocking your doors. Using the task bar at the bottom of the screen you can access the thermostat to view the current temperature, turn the heating cooling system on and off, set vacation modes, and create a heating/cooling schedule for weekdays and weekends.

Tapping the camera icon takes you to a screen where you can view live video from each camera and see clips from recorded events such as motion detection or when someone rings the doorbell. The On/Off icon takes you to a page where you can turn wall outlets and light switches on and off, and the Settings icon is where you go to see notifications and a history of activity (searchable by date), such as motion detection and rule-enabled events, camera recordings, and door openings. Here you can also set custom rules; for example, you can have lights turn on and off at specific times or when an event occurs, have your doors lock or unlock automatically at a certain time or as a result of an event, and have the cameras record video when an alarm is triggered. You can use any of the numerous preset rules or you can create your own.

You don't get quite as much control with the web app as you do with the mobile app: You can't lock and unlock doors or configure the thermostat, nor can you use the video doorbell's push-to-talk feature. However, you can view live and recorded video, arm and disarm the system, create custom rules, and view activities and notifications.

The system performed admirably for home automation tasks. It never failed to manually lock or unlock doors, and the thermostat followed my weekday and weekend heating schedules without issue. I created custom rules to have the system lock all of my doors at 11:00 p.m. daily and turn off my living room lights at 11:30 p.m. and it followed those rules without fail.

Vivint's home security performance is equally impressive. The window and door sensors worked perfectly in testing, as did the motion detectors. It followed my rules to have lights turn on when a camera detected motion, and when a door was opened after a certain time of day and I received a notification. Live video from the doorbell camera is crisp, with rich colors and sharp black-and-white night video out to around 15 feet. Recorded video quality is also top-notch. The interior and exterior cameras also deliver excellent day and night video, with the exterior camera providing highly detailed night vision imagery out to around 45 feet and the interior camera providing a night vision range of a little over 20 feet.

I unwittingly put Vivint's emergency response prowess to the test, which it passed with flying colors. While heating up a slice of pizza, a chunk of cheese landed on the heating element in my toaster oven, filling the kitchen with smoke and triggering the smoke alarm. I was out in the backyard and could hear what sounded like birds chirping; it was loud, but it took a minute or two to figure out it was the alarm (I had no idea what it was supposed to sound like). I ran inside, turned off the oven, and turned on the house fan. But before I could enter my code on the control panel, a Vivint representative called and informed me that the fire department had been notified since I failed to answer their first call and did not enter my code in time. Sure enough, a fire truck and the fire chief pulled up a few minutes later. The response time from the initial alarm to the fire department's arrival was less than 10 minutes.

This brings me to my only real performance gripe. The smoke alarm, while loud, doesn't really sound like a smoke alarm. I'd much prefer the annoying beep or the shrill siren that I normally associate with an urgent alarm. As of now there is no way to change the sound of the alarm, but Vivint may add custom sirens in a future update.

Conclusions

With Vivint Smart Home you get a full-blown home security system that is constantly being monitored, and a comprehensive home automation solution you can control from just about anywhere, including a best-in-class doorbell camera. Granted, you can save a lot of money in monthly subscription fees with a DIY home security system like the iSmartAlarm Premium (our previous Editors' Choice), but that means you're responsible for the installation, maintenance, and monitoring, and you must contact your local police or fire department when an event occurs. Moreover, unlike systems from Protect America and FrontPoint, you don't have to commit to a lengthy service contract.

As with most fully monitored home security services, the Vivint Smart Home system isn't cheap. But if you want the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your home is secure and protected 24-7, it's money well spent.

About the Author

As a Contributing Editor for PC Magazine, John Delaney has been testing and reviewing monitors, HDTVs, PCs, servers, and other assorted hardware and peripherals for more than 14 years. A 13-year veteran of PC Magazine's Labs (most recently as Director of Operations), John was responsible for the recruitment, training and management of the Labs technical staff, as well as evaluating and maintaining the integrity of the Labs testing machines and procedures.

Prior to joining Ziff Davis Publishing, John spent six years in retail operations for Federated Stores, Inc. before accepting a purchasing position with Morris Decision Systems, one of New York's first value-added resellers of the original IBM PC. For ... See Full Bio